These guys enjoyed a family portrait experience that was so much fun from start to finish. Don’t just take our word for it, read their account of their time with us and how their experience captured them perfectly…
I had entered a Facebook competition that Adam was running for World Book Day and the picture of our youngest dressed as Harry Potter was chosen as one of the winners. The prize was a session with Adam and a print. I remember being so surprised (as I never win anything) that I responded back to his message straight away, filled in my details and received an email with a link to book the session.
This was all at the start of March 2020 and then sadly COVID-19 hit and the UK went in lockdown. Adam and I kept in touch as I was obviously keen to book our prize but only when we were safe to do so. He was very understanding, happy to be flexible given the circumstances and we agreed to leave things open.
Fast forward to the end of November and between restrictions being lifted and our availability I got back in touch with Adam again. My wife and I thought it would be nice to try and get the session booked in December so that we could give the photos as gifts to our families. Once again, Adam was able to work with us and agree a date.
Now up until this point, the only photos we had previously paid to have done were our wedding photos and of our boys when they were babies. My wife and I have been married 15 years and our boys are 10 and 8 so it’s been a while since we’ve been in a studio. We were a little anxious and not sure what to expect so I messaged Adam and he explained his process (if you’re reading this then I’d recommend looking at the rest of his website – it definitely answers a lot of questions!). Adam likes to take the time to understand and get to know you, your family and your likes and dislikes. The thing that struck me the most was when he spoke to my wife not just about her thoughts on the boys but about me too. It showed me that to him, photography was more than just what goes on in front of the camera. It was being able to capture pure joy and know how much those moments would mean to us, now and in the years to come. We also spoke about our home and the sort of places we might think to put any artwork. This would later help Adam suggest the options that would best suit our home.
The big day came and Adam had already made some suggestions on outfits. As we had said about using some of the photos as Christmas gifts, he suggested wearing Christmas jumpers. The other one that was popular was white shirt and blue jeans, which we liked as it was simple but also looked effective. We all arrived and straight away he put us all at ease, joking with our boys and just making us all feel welcome (you could tell he was a family man). As our boys were into their console games, Adam suggested bringing the controllers with us. As we got them out the bag he suggested maybe starting with those first and taking photos of just the boys. These were excellent, the various poses making our boys explode with laughter as they pretended to race each other at Mario Cart.
We then took the Christmas photos next, going through various poses, some with all of us, some my wife and I and the others with the boys. It really got us into the Christmas spirit and again it wasn’t long before the boys were piling into us and we were all laughing!
Adam then left studio to allow us to change into our white shirts and blue jeans. Once we were ready it was back to it and again, Adam was great at amusing the boys and just maintaining their interest (it had been over an hour of photo taking by this point). Our eldest also has a social and communication disorder which can mean he has trouble with his emotions, no such challenge with Adam. We got through these final photos and aside from us turning his lovely white floor blue (sorry again Adam) we were all done. Adam was going to get all the photos ready and would be back in touch to book at follow up meeting. This would be where he would present the photos and we would then choose what we wanted.
We agreed a date for the following week and arrived at the studio. Yet again we were made to feel very welcome by Adam. Our boys had come too due to the restrictions at the time and it actually worked out well. Adam had created a presentation with some music and it was lovely, so much so our eldest was in tears at the end of it (happy tears of course). We then went through the process of choosing which we were really worried about. We thought we’d fall in love with them all and end up spending lots of money. Adam was great at guiding us as we worked through all the photos and at no point did we feel pressured about what to choose or not choose. At the end we were all really happy with the selection we’d chosen as they boys had been able to give their opinions too (lovely that they felt involved). We decided to buy a piece of artwork and also have digital copies which we could use to purchase as Christmas gifts. Adam said he would prioritise getting the Christmas themed ones done first as we were only a couple of weeks before the big day and this would give us time to buy any gifts.
I’m pleased to say that not only did Adam come through and get us our Christmas photos the following week, the remaining ones came shortly after that. Due to COVID and his suppliers being overseas, we are still waiting on our artwork but that’s just something to look forward to for 2021.
I can’t recommend Adam enough. He is extremely talented at what he does but he also cares deeply about making the experience personal to you. That is what sets him apart from other photographers and why we look forward to hopefully working with him again in the future.
